Key findings The Global Risks Report 2025 presents the findings of the Global Risks Perception Survey 2024- 2025 (GRPS), which captures insights from over 900 experts worldwide. The report analyses global risks through three timeframes to support decision- makers in balancing current crises and longer-term priorities. Chapter 1 explores current or immediate- term (in 2025) and short- to medium-term1 (to 2027) risks, and Chapter 2 focuses on the risks emerging in the long term (to 2035). The report considers not only the survey findings and the range of implications, but also provides six in-depth analyses of selected risk themes. Below are the key findings of the report, in which we compare the risk outlooks across the three time horizons. Declining optimism As we enter 2025, the global outlook is increasingly fractured across geopolitical, environmental, societal, economic and technological domains. Over the last year we have witnessed the expansion and escalation of conflicts, a multitude of extreme weather events amplified by climate change, widespread societal and political polarization, and continued technological advancements accelerating the spread of false or misleading information. Optimism is limited as the danger of miscalculation or misjudgment by political and military actors is high. We seem to be living in one of the most divided times since the Cold War, and this is reflected in the results of the GRPS, which reveal a bleak outlook across all three time horizons – current, short-term and long-term. A majority of respondents (52%) anticipate an unsettled global outlook over the short term (next two years), a similar proportion to last year (Figure A). Another 31% expect turbulence and 5% a stormy outlook. Adding together these three categories of responses shows a combined four percentage point increase from last year, indicating a heightened pessimistic outlook for the world to 2027. Compared to this two-year outlook, the landscape deteriorates over the 10-year timeframe, with 62% of respondents expecting stormy or turbulent times. This long-term outlook has remained similar to the survey results last year, in terms of its level of negativity, reflecting respondent skepticism that current societal mechanisms and governing institutions are capable of navigating and mending the fragility generated by the risks we face today. Deepening geopolitical and geoeconomic tensions Comparing this year’s findings for the world in 2025 with the two-year risk outlook provided by the GRPS two years ago shows how far Short- and long-term global outlook FIGURE A Source World Economic Forum Global Risks Perception Survey 2024-2025Short term (2 years)1% Long term (10 years) Stormy : Global catastrophic risks looming Turbulent : Upheavals and elevated risk of global catastrophes Unsettled : Some instability, moderate risk of global catastrophes Stable : Isolated disruptions, low risk of global catastrophes Calm : Negligible risk of global catastrophes"Which of the following best characterizes your outlook for the world over the following time periods?" Note The percentages in the graph may not add up to 100% because values have been rounded up/down.11% 52% 31% 5% 17% 45% 30% 8% Global Risks Report 2025 6